Alaska - Cruisetour - Day 1

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Lot of anticipation and excitement as the day started in Chandler. We had a brunch at home. There was leftover food from previous day and we finished it. Sumi arrived around 11 AM to take us to the airport. We left home around 11:20 am or so. Once we reached the airport, we realized the flight has been delayed to depart at 2 pm. Since Sandhya had United gold (or something to that effect), we were added to the upgrade list. We got only 1 upgrade. Praveen was allowed to use it. Later, he would confirm that there was nothing special about the business class. The seats were bigger and roomier. There was no special food etc. We reached SFO by 4:30 pm. Pranav had already landed and was at the gate for the Anchorage flight. After short walk we met up with Pranav. We walked around shooting the breeze for 40 minutes before getting back to gate. Flight left on time. It was a full flight as well. Need to understand their algorithm on how they could maximize occupancy! 5 hours of flying with the fading light all through. It was interesting to watch. For some reason, it felt like we are flying for quite some time. We reached Anchorage around 9:30 pm. Baggage was out soon. The airport was bit congested. We called the hotel for pickup. Front desk told me that someone will be there in 20 minutes. We got our bags in 10 minutes. We would have waited another 30 minutes at least before the shuttle arrived. The temperature was little chilly and a threat of rain. We could have used Uber for those 4 miles. But, then we had 4 suitcases to carry. We reached Fairfield Inn by 10:30 pm and checked into our room. Now for dinner, almost all restaurants close by 10 PM there. We were able to order large pizza to the room as a room service. This pizza was average at best.

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